Chinese Language Resources

Here’s what I use for Chinese:

Pleco – smartphone app. Search for words in hanzi, pinyin, English, handwriting input, or by pointing your phone’s camera at a character. Dictionaries are off-line, so they’re available to you even when you’re off the grid.

MDBG – I use this one when I don’t have Pleco handy. Search for words in hanzi, pinyin, english, or use handwriting input! Click through to see stroke order, radicals and components, and to add a character to your Skritter.

Google Pinyin – an pinyin input that will let you type in hanzi. Ctrl+shift+T will toggle you between simplified and traditional characters.

Pinyinput – a keyboard IME that you install to your system. Download, unzip, install (right-click and “run as administrator”… very important). I sent mine to EN-(Australian), so it doesn’t mess with my numerous other keyboard IMEs.